


Glaiw

by dontstopfangirling



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Post-Battle of Five Armies, my take on Tauriel's fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8354566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontstopfangirling/pseuds/dontstopfangirling
Summary: Tauriel's jorney after her banishment. And the flimsy hope she might see her love once again.





	

Tauriel still hears his laughter, in every rush of leaves in the lonely forest. She, who once loved to walk under starlight, now cannot help but agree that it is a rather cold light. Because it is memory; pure and precious and _painful_ , and it reminds her of the things she’s loved and lost. She favors sunlight now, warm and bright like him, as she walks alone among the trees.

She watches the ages twist and pass. She sees the dwarfs, thousands of them, come to the mountain. There’s always food in the path of the traveling companies, never a single spider, and they pray their thanks for Mahal.

When the lonely mountain is abandoned, Tauriel weeps. So much was lost because of its stone halls - so much sacrificed for nothing. It was yesterday, it was eagons ago. She watches Esgaroth flourish and decay, from afar. She senses the evil awakening in the west. She hears rumours of war and she wonders if they know. That war is useless, worthless. That all war ever does is take those you love away. It’s what she tells Legolas, when he comes begging for her to join him in battle. He argues that millions will die at the hands of the dark maia. She catches herself repeating the same words Thranduil once said to her; that all mortals are bound to die, that fighting for them is fruitless.

She’s no longer a warrior, she figures; her daggers long lost, her bow long forgotten. She wonders if she’s even an elf still, so long since she last belonged among her own folk. But she feels it; the call for the immortal lands. The need to leave this world that no longer belongs to her kin. She refuses to part. She refuses to leave the land that gave her the only thing she still holds close to her heart. She can still hear him singing to his brother in the murmur of the rivers. He’s everywhere.

And that is probably the reason why she cannot just let herself lie down and die, she believes. Because Mirkwood is so full of him - the whole Arda is filled with memories of who he was, the things he’s done, the places he’s seen. She cannot close her eyes and miss it. Because seeing him in everything hurts, but not seeing him at all is a fate worse than death. Because she’s the very last one who remembers him, and once she’s gone, all memories of him will be gone from this world with her. And then Kíli will be dead again.

The second time Legolas finds her, Tauriel is contemplating the sunset. He talks of departure; the end of the time of elves. He talks of the last ship to Valinor, and a last chance of reaching home or dying in the land of Men. But he also talks of hope, of dwarves allowed in the halls of Manwë; of Beren and Luthien, Elessar and Arwën, and a kind of love so strong that could speak to the heart of the mighty Valar. That could grant a chance of happiness.

Tauriel flees to the grey harbors. Her feet barely touching the carpet of leaves, his laughter echoing in her ears, her eyes eager for his face, her heart lighter than ever. She - daughter of the forest - leaves the forest behind her. For if, indeed, the Undying Lands were the paradise she heard about since childhood, he would be there. For Tauriel could not ever picture a kind of heaven where Kíli would not be at her side.


End file.
